by Nina Vaclavikova
Interviews: Pierpaolo Roberti, FVG Councilor for Local Autonomies, Security, and Immigration; Michele Babuder, Trieste Councilor for Public Works and Territorial Policies
Trieste has renamed the small maritime boatyard at the edge of the Barcola pinewood in honor of Fertilia, a town in Sardinia with deep historical ties to postwar population movements. The site, located near the statue of the “Sirenetta,” will now bear the name “Squero Fertilia – Città giuliana di Sardegna.”
The initiative, approved by the municipal government, was inaugurated in the presence of officials from Trieste and Alghero, including Mayor Roberto Dipiazza and his counterpart Raimondo Cacciotto. Regional authorities and representatives from both communities also attended.
The naming commemorates Istrian-Dalmatian exodus, during which hundreds of thousands of Italians left Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia in the aftermath of World War II. Fertilia, founded in 1936 as a land reclamation settlement near Fertilia, later became a major reception center for many of those displaced families.
Officials described the Barcola boatyard as a symbolic site of connection across the Adriatic. Still used today for launching small vessels, it was presented as a place where the sea—once a route of displacement—becomes a space of remembrance and continuity.
Trieste Mayor Roberto Dipiazza said the gesture reflects a city that has learned to move beyond a complex past and build a pluralistic identity. Michele Babuder, the city councillor for territorial policies, called the naming a commitment to preserving the memory of the exodus and strengthening the historical link between Trieste and Sardinia.
Cacciotto, the mayor of Alghero, thanked Trieste for what he described as a gesture of friendship, recalling Fertilia’s “three renaissances”: its origins as a planned settlement, its postwar transformation through the arrival of exiles, and its present-day role as a symbol of integration.
In recent years, cultural initiatives have reinforced ties between the two communities, including commemorative events and symbolic maritime routes retracing the journeys of Istrian fishermen who resettled in Sardinia after the war.
With its new name, the Barcola boatyard joins a broader network of memorial sites along the Adriatic, reflecting an ongoing effort to frame a difficult chapter of European history through shared remembrance and cross-regional ties.
